Easter Joy!!!

Well, farewell to all. I leave today for the border, and then tomorrow morning I cross over into the much-feared but well-worth-it land of Colombia! I seriously believe I'll be fine and safe and all (as usual), but just as I could be mugged or shot on the streets of Minneapolis or Quito, I may not return. I love you all, and maybe someday my host mom will ship your souvenirs back home! TOTALLY JOKING! I'm coming back, no worries.

It does make you think, though, about how so many days we take for granted our safety and comfort. Even if we did stop to think about the blessings of every day, we'd just assume that we'll see tomorrow. So I embrace this opportunity to evaluate my priorities and to truly learn to be grateful for every moment I'm given to undergo ventillation, circulation, and respiration (current year 10 curriculum); to see the clouds uncover the mountains, to see the sun to paint the sky, and to see my nasty foot rash disappear! I'm so grateful to be priviledged enough to be in this fabulous country traveling to places many will never see and know that family friends back home still love me and support me!

And because I can't count on having access to a computer for a few weeks, Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen!

Random Realisations

--As the title suggests, it's becoming almost natural to use British spellings (though you don't want to know how many times it took me to get haemoglobin right)

--I dislike the squeak of green beans when chewed

--when a guy gets on the bus with a chicken under one arm and sits down next to you, it is impossible to not smile at the thought of how far from your own culture you are!

--I serisously love public transit (okay, more of an affirmation than a realisation)!

--there's a lot of public urination in South Quito

--After not hearing a single bachata for over two months, I was actually super excited when I heard "Hay una mujer, que domina mis sentidos" and that awful synthesized twangy guitar music (but please don't hold this over my head, XT!)

--Although I have no idea yet what kind of church is CENTI, Centro de Teoterapia Integral, the one-hour service a nice lady on the bus invited me to last night was fantastic! No one fell over from the Holy Spirit, the pastor (who had to be from the coast because his Spanish was sloppy) preached right from the Bible with no questionable interpretations, and the music was wonderful because we first moved aside all the chairs so we could dance as we sng and clapped! I was actually merengueing at some point in church! I will be returning, even though it's quite a long haul from Cununyacú.

--I really do love public transit!

--pennies have been made of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper for longer than I have been alive!

--the weird rash that developed last week after walking through the rushing stream that flowed down the flooded road as I walked to school has not gone away as I had hoped it would and now looks even more disgusting. (pic is from Saturday) Kinda detracts from the lovely french-tipped toenails, don't ya' think?

--I leave for Colombia in 4 days!!!

--Monica made banana bread today (sorry mom, I didn't get your recipe in time) and there's a piece downstairs waiting for me! Chao!

they're stealing my insanity!

Well, 2 days ago officially marked two months here, and I can't believe how fast it's flying by! Next week is the last week before my spring break, and then I only have three more weeks in the school! Granted, that welcomes in an amazing time for adventure travels, but then it's all over and I have to come back to the real world! Yikes! Bikes!

In other news, yesterday I went to the opening night of the school production Romeo and Juliet, and it was really well done! It was at a cinema/theater in Quito, so that was fun just to get out of the valley, and what struck me most was that the highly emotional scenes didn't seem terribly forced, so that's a tribute to the students' acting skills. Also, only two of the students English as a First Language, so I can't imagine how hard it was to memorize the Old English lines! Granted, at times the accents were so thick that I had no clue what they were saying and the lines were spoken much too fast, but who am I to judge? Well, come to think of it, I never speak in but the slowest of manners.

Lastly, I am currently making up lesson plans (and blogging) in the library, because remember: I have no office nor official or stable place to work. And right behind me is a gaggle of small primary students rehearsing for their Easter play. They have gone through some crocodile song, a frog in a pond song, 3 fat jellyfish song, and now an Easter Bunny song. I don't know how much more of this horrendous, out-of-tune, clapping-at-random-times, teacher louder than all the students painful torture I can take! AAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh!


5 pretty easter eggs hiding in the grass...I found a red one!

How sleep ruins perfectly good plans...

So, after leaving Maria Rosa's, I walked around much of Quito looking for better dancing shoes (why, oh why, did I leave those amazing target ones at home?!). See, I failed to mention that Xavier had invited me to the best salsa place in town Saturday night. I told him maybe, because I would have to rent a hotel (or pay taxi fare that is 2-3 times more), but I thought that maybe Sofy would want to come with me. So I finally found shoes (Pema--that's right, a chinese store's knockoff brand) and made it home to shower, eat, and tidy up my stuff. Sofy said she would like to go out, and I said I was going to take a nap. This was 5 p.m. folks. And I didn't hear a thing until 4 a.m. That's right--Sofy may have come in, Xavier may have called, it may have downpoured, but I am not to know these details because I was bien dormida. I was also muy confundida when I awoke in darkness and not wearing my pajamas (that's right--a different pair of sweatpants). So I went to the bathroom and went back to bed for another 4 hours! And after15 hours of sleep, I felt pretty good! I haven't been able to sleep that much since post-Winter Blast days in middle school! And now I have to wait at least a week to even think about dancing again. Chuta!

Bungalow

Friday night I was invited to go out again con Vanessa y María Rosa. So this time I left the house at 7:15 in order to catch the last bus to Quito, and it was pouring! Once in Quito I was going to walk to María Rosa's house because it is pretty close to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, I couldn't remember the name of the street I had to turn left on, so I walked down one street, looked in all the gates, walked back to Rio Coca, walked down the next street, walked back to Río Coca, walked down the next street......until I hit the right street 6 tries later! Now, XT and Eli can probably imagine how my feet felt (or at least how I would be complaining about them) because remember--I'm going dancing, so I-m wearing my paper-thin-soled black salsa shoes. Yikes! Bikes! But I finally arrived, we had bread and coffee, chatted, and finally left at 11 p.m. But then we had to get gas (all $3.oo worth), and so we waited at least 25 minutes in the line (how much gas do you think we spent just waiting?). And then we met up with Caty y su novio Christopher and waited for them to eat a burger and fries. THEN, we drove around trying to decide on a place to go/trying to get through the traffic-blocked streets/finding a place to park. See, none of us really wanted to spend much money, so we finally decided on Bungalow, a place packed with gringos, but free for the ladies! The good news is that the music was fairly varied so it wasn't boring for awhile! The bad news is that it was mainly rock, techno, really old songs like the YMCA, and a few merengues. We danced in our own little group for awhile, and then these nice little 18-year-olds asked Vanessa and I to dance. It wouldn't have been that weird except that the third question my guy (chris) asked me (after what's your name? and where are you from?) was "How old are you?" Why would you ask that?! Anywho, he was nice enough, but I soon lost interest (one of his next quations was which fútbol team I preferred), as had Vanessa and María Rosa. We were about to leave when...they played a salsa! And I don't know how he knew I was dying to salsa, but this really guapo guy named Xavier asked me to dance...and dance he could! Not to generalize all ecuadorians, but Franciso is officially wrong because, ay! he spun me and spun me and spun me! And at the end of the second salsa he dipped me! So I was perfectly feliz...and then Vanessa said they were ready to go. Nooooooo! But I went and we ate french fries and ice cream (okay, only I had the ice cream) and then drove to the next bar that doesn't start to pick up until after 2 p.m. Unfortunately for them (but fortunately for me), there was a 5 dollar cover and because MR had to be home by 4 a.m. we didn't think it was worth paying for only one hour. I was secretly quite happy with this decision because my feet hurt and I really don't enjoy techno/hip hop. So we returned home, got 6 hours of sleep, and had a great breakfast with MR's family again. While I can't say it was the best night dancing, it was wonderfully fun and a much-needed escape from la isolación del valle.

p.s. I forgot to mention one thing about Bungalow that we all found highly offensive: We were waiting in line to get in behind a group of latinos and in front of a group of 6 gringos. The bouncer chose the gringos behind us to go in, then waited awhile. Vanessa had me move to the front of our group and say some stuff in English, at which point we were allowed to go in, with the latinos still waiting! I was mortified! That's horrible discrimination and I felt truly ashamed of being white!

Aguacero

Yesterday I woke up and it was raining fairly hard. I walked to school and it was raining lightly. After periods 2-5 of no rain, it begain to seriously pour.

If I were in a school in the states, I might have stepped in a puddle on the way into the multi-story building or I may have seen the rain outside my window, but it wouldn't really have affect my day.

Here, however, the weather dictates which school activities can occur. The roofs on all the one-story classroom buildings are tin or ceramic tile, so when it pours it is virtually impossible to hear anything else. All the p.e. classes are outside, so the students just huddle under an awning and talk about physical fitness. Because walking from one class to the next involves going outside and wading through the numerous puddles and streams that have developed, students arrive wet, cold, and unfocused. Not that it matters, because they can't hear you or each other anyways so they just do bookwork. All the extracurricular sports are cancelled. And no one can wait to get home to crawl into bed to watch a movie with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

Except my room is also tin-roofed, so I can't hear the t.v.! So a book it was, and a welcome reason to lie in bed and relax.

How have we in the states made it so easy to be independent of weather and nature, and why do we act so inconvenienced when it does manage to change our lifestyle a bit? Why not embrace it as a much-needed change of pace and an opportunity to do something we would otherwise not make time for?

Fear, frustration, fun, and food!

So Sunday saw me at another Christian church, and it left me with mixed feelings. I really liked the people and the music, but the people being filled with the Holy Spirit and falling down at the end kinda turned me off. I did buy a great CD, though, by Alex Campos. It's a fantastic mix of rock, ska, piano ballads, and vallenato (Colombian accordian music).


Then, I had the most frightening experience I have had in Ecuador thus far. I saw a cockroach in my room!!!!! So I froze, shoe in hand, just waiting for it to come out of the corner. I had two unsuccessful shoe-throwing attempts, then more waiting, seriously paralyzed in fear. After about 30 minutes of staring, attempting to journal, but really just staring and waiting, the bugger reappeared and I luckily called Jairo into save me. Um, kinda embarrassing, come to think of it...because it wasn't a cockroach at all! It was a grillo--a cricket! It looked a little different than the massive Venezuelan cockroaches I battled nearly every night, but it was dark in the corner and it stayed under the bottom of the curtain so I couldn't really see it. Plus, the wall is a long way from the bed on which I was seeking refuge. So it took about 20 minutes for my panic and all its physiological effects to dissipate, but I was able to sleep peacefully knowing there wasn't a cockroach (or cricket, for that matter) in my room! I'm pretty pathetic, I know.

So after a good night's rest, Monday was just fine, and right after school I went to a jewelry-making class that Monica kinda pressured me into. I may have been too supportive of her own love for jewelry making, or I may have been too open with details that my mom is into it now, or I may have seemed too interested in learning the techniques myself...because now she thinks I love it and has convinced me to buy all sorts of beads, fasteners, wire, etc. that I will certainly never use or make anything beautiful and wearable with. The problems are two-fold: 1. I'm not creative and have virtually no fashion sense whatsoever, in addition to a preference for wooden anything over any type of metal; 2. While it's fun to learn techniques and knots and such, I would much rather spend 4 hours browsing beautiful and cheap hand-made jewelry at the local market, and then moving on with my day than spend those same 4 hours putzing with a bunch of tiny beads, taking out 1/3 of what I'd just done and redoing it, and then giving up in frustration and impatience. Seriously (and I did tell Monica this, though she didn't seem too supportive), I don't have the patience nor talent for jewlery-making and therefore my bracelets and necklaces look like a 4th grade craft project. But I think I'm stuck in this task for awhile because each night Monica tells me of a new place to buy pearls (which I personally disdain) or a new technique she wants to teach me. Seriously, if I really wanted to learn this art, I could buy a magazine or look it up on the internet. But i haven't yet, have I? And what do we think that means? Anyways, if I ever finish the stupid bracelet I started, I'll post a picture.

Moving on to Tuesday, all I did in the afternoon and evening is make up the Year 12 ecology exam for tomorrow, as well as 30 review questions for the Jeopardy! game we played yesterday. No one had ever heard of it, but they all really liked it, so I was glad to spread the Alex Trebek joy.

And last night, after watching some NatGeo and CNN in the evening, I made empanadas de viento with Monica, some filled with cheese and others with jelly. I'm still not pleased with my edging technique, but they tasted great!

Zoológico de Quito en Guallabamba

On Saturday I breakfasted with the Cruzes again, and what a strange breakfast it was! We had bread with ham and cheese (normal, though not my high-in-carbs preference), a grape shake (yeah, pretty weird)...and a lettuce and cucumber salad. Bizarre, but good company.

Then Walter and I arranged many of the details of Amy's and my trip! We will spend two days in Quito, then leave on the night bus for the southern-most part of Ecuador on May 18th. We'll spend a few days at the hotel there, relaxing, tanning, etc., as well as learning how to make cheese and coffee, as well as bread in a wood oven. We'll travel on day trips to the largest petrified forest in the world, to a local town for their artesanía, and then we'll cross into Peru for a day in some town, and then most likely a day or two on the beach! Back to their hotel, and then back up the sierra (mountain range) stopping in notable towns along the way, riding the Nariz del Diablo train (best to not translate that one for our moms!), and ending with natural baths and hopefully a jungle tour that includes panning for gold, splunking, and staying with an indigenous family (hmm, better work on my quechwa...). So between now and then, most likely 50% will change, but it's fun to have a plan, no?!

So, after that fun stuff (all the while, Gladis was giving me a pedicure and manicure because she had studied belleza and was out of practice, regardless of my protests that feet are gross), we walked to the local mall, she bought tennis shoes, and then we decided to go to the zoo for Matías! They hadn't been in at least 5 years and forgot that it is insanely far away! For being the Quito Zoo, you have to take the trole for 40 minutes, and then another bus for an hour! But we arrived at last and it is a really nice zoo! It mainly just has endemic species, but there's plenty of space for the animals and it's all outdoors with amazing trees and flowers. Matías was so cute and got super excited about every animal, so that made the trip way more fun. And after a long ride back, I got home too late for the last bus (8:15) and had to pay for a short taxi ride. Oh, how I hate not being able to walk at night!

Comentarios y Pensamientos del Desfile de Moda

Yesterday Monica told me that I should go to Ventura Mall (where Monica and Jairo have a shoestore) to watch the desfile....in honor of International Women's Day. I clearly didn't hear all of her words, and that left me really curious as to how and why one would have a parade in a mall! But I just thought I'd be in for a curious display of Latin American culture. Yeah, turns out it was a desfile de moda--a fashion show! And it was really quite fancy, with bows tied around all the chairs, roses handed out at the entrance, and live music at the beginning! It was pretty fun to feel the excitement of the fashion runway, and it was a pretty clever marketing idea for all the stores in the mall who contributed their merchandise for the models to display. My favorite part, though, was when a model would come out with the tags clearly visible, hanging from her sleeve or from her purse!

They started off with kids who were really cute, and some of the girls really had the runway attitude, to the point of seriously over-exaggerating the hip strut...which made them all the more cute! Later were the teens/adults, with men being sadly under-represented (after all, isn't it a day for the ladies? Come on, now.) And I always wondered why the models always look angry or apathetic. Well, it's because if they smile the whole time like one of the models did, it's even weirder and almost awkward. I don't know why that is, but I like the angry look now. All in all, it was a really enjoyable way to celebrate IWD, though I do feel like I should have focused more on the political/economic/violence prevention/equality aspects of th day, rather than the vanity/physical/feel-good aspects. Ah well, ¡así es la vida!

"Ain't I a woman?"

In their honor, I've listed a few of my favorite or most formative women. I've not included close, personal women because I would undoubtedly forget many who would then be heartbroken. But please feel free to add to my list with the many I've forgotten or with some of your own I may not know of. And if you don't know who some of these women are or what they have done, look it up!

Amelia Earhart--“Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.”
Angeles Mastretta (para todas las Mujeres con Ojos Grandes)
Ann M. Martin (definitely a formative and not a favorite)
Anne Frank--“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
Annie Dillard--“Just once I wanted a task that required all the joy I had. Day after day I had noticed that if I waited long enough, my strong unexpressed joy would dwindle and dissipate inside me, like a fire subsiding . . . . Just this once I wanted to let it rip.”
Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara McClintock
Betsy Ross
Charlotte Bronte
Clara Barton--“I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay.”
Coretta Scott King
Corrie ten Boom--“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.”
Dian Fossey
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (remember her, fellow women in science?!)
Dorothy Dix
Elizabeth Blackwell
Eva Perón
Florence Nightingale
Frida Kahlo
George Eliot--“I'm not denyin' that women are foolish; God Almighty made 'em to match men.”
Gina Kolata
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Tubman
Hellen Keller--“It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui.”
Hua Mu-Lan
Isabel Allende--“How can one not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?”
Jane Austen
Julie Andrews--“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and... SNAP! The job's a game!”
Kate Chopin
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Louisa May Alcott--“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”
Lurlene McDaniels (shout out for the death books!)
Margaret Sanger
Maria Montessori
Marie Curie--“After all, science is essentially international, and it is only through lack of the historical sense that national qualities have been attributed to it.”
Mary Putnam Jacobi
Maya Angelou--“If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.”
Mother Teresa--“I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?”
Natalie Angier
Rachel Carson--“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”
Rosa Parks
Rosalind Franklin
Sojourner Truth--"Ain't I a woman?"
Susan B. Anthony
Sylvia Plath

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

International Women's Day (IWD) is the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future ...

International Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900's, a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies.

The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.

So make a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe and rewarding.

To all the women in my life who have supported me, who have set positive and/or negative examples for me, who have challenged me and encouraged me, who have laughed with me and cried with me, who have shared my dreams and understood my fears, I want to send a great big THANK YOU! and I LOVE YOU!

And for all the women who went before me and fought with a strength I may never have, who endured struggles I may never have to know, and who loved and lived with a passion I may never achieve, I remain grateful and humbled and inspired.

How cool is BSQ?!

Although there are lots of things about el British that could be better or improved upon (in my opinion, of course), they’ve certainly done a couple of things right. First, they use energy-efficient lightbulbs in almost every light. How awesome is that? Secondly, in BOTH packed lunches they’ve sent us off with (Cotopaxi and Black Sheep Inn), they’ve included what might be the best idea for a cookie yet—Konitos! Tasty and fun! Yeah, I’m a huge dork.

Human Impact on Ecosystems

Last night, though super fatigued and a bit sleep-deprived, I slept very little. Ya' know why? Because my fear of spiders, demonstrated by my killing of each one I've seen and been fast enough to swat, has now officially disrupted the ecosystem of my bedroom. In my first 24 days here, I killed 22 spiders. It then slowed down to a total of 29, and now...Now there are mosquitos, and lots of 'em. They buzz and they bite and they make you groggily swat your forehead like a crazy person without actually killing them. After about 5 restless hours of trying to cover my ears and my face and my arms, I think I slept about an hour and awoke to find three dead mosquitos on my pillow, one bite on my face, three on my hand, and one on my arm. Does this mean I have to go to bed with the spider still on my wall? Or can I just buy some bug spray?

Quilotoa

Amazingly enough, Sunday morning is pancake morning at the Black Sheep Inn, just as it was in the Sorensen household for years! Although they were delicious, high altitude pancakes aren't quite as good as Daddy's. But the homemade syrup was pretty tasty. After we packed out bags, we went and checked out the sheep, including the 3-day old lamb! We also did the zipline, but pics of me are on Peter's camera, so I've no proof as of yet. It was super fun, but not long enough!

We then started the long drive back to Quito, stopping for lunch at La Laguna Quilotoa, a volcanic crater lake. It was impressively beautiful and windy and cold, so I bought an alpaca hat and gloves from a pushy local! We then finished the long drive and I spent the night uploading all these nice pictures for you all, now that the home computer is back and fully functional, postponing my bedtime much later than I'd have liked!

Centro de Reciclaje

On Saturday, after a fantastic breakfast, we split up the 8 students into two groups. One group went to the library to fix/update the computers as well as give tutorials in basic computer skills to students from the Chugchilán school. I went with the group that went to the Recycling Center to paint it and make signs for the distinct piles inside. There were also 6 boys from the school helping out, and it was really discouraging to see how they didn't integrate, didn't even ask each others' names, didn't seem to care at all. But within their respective groups, they all worked really hard and are quite talented aritsts! The local boys did the scenery and our kids did the words and logos that I think turned out fantastically! After lunch break, before returning to finish the painting, we picked up as much garbage as we could from the road, but only made it about 200 meters before running out of bag and box space! We finished up there, and again, our kids didn't even get out of the car to say goodbye to the boys! Arrrg, the absolute lack of manners and consideration nearly ruined an otherwise really positive day.

Back at the inn, a group of young girls came and performed some traditional Ecuadorian dances, later getting us all to join in and learn! It was great fun to both watch and dance, and boy! do I miss dancing! Dinner was great, and near the end the clouds dissipated enough to see the end of the lunar eclipse! It was fantastic and lasted a lot longer than I thought it would! As the students had another bonfire, I attempted to read awhile in the lodge but ended up falling asleep (go figure) and called it a night at 9:30!

La Posada Oveja Negra

Friday morning the geography and ICT teachers and I left with Year 11 CAS (creativity, action, service--an IB course requirement) for the Black Sheep Inn. We arrived about 5 hours later and were given a brief tour. We were first shown to our cabins, ours being the highest up on the hill (probably best for noise reduction). We were then explained the rest of the features and structures. The whole inn is an AWESOME place, and highly encouraging and inspiring. It's an example of a place practicing permaculture, or permanent agriculture. This term means that they try to be self-sufficient with regards to water and energy usage, waste disposal, and food production. They opened 12 years ago and have been improving/developing their permaculture since then. They have rain collection systems on the roof, providing water to wash your hands and to shower. The water you use to wash your hands then waters the garden in the bathroom (better than a blank wall, no?). They have a pond at the bottom of their property and solar panels to pump it up to holding tanks at the top of the property. This water is used mainly in irrigation. They do use some city water to be boiled for cooking, but it is minimal. They highly encourage guests to turn all lights off when not in use, and they have energy-efficient lightbulbs. Now back to those bathrooms and their system of waste disposal. They use ingenious dry-composting toilets in order to not waste water and to produce a rich fertilizer. As seen in the instructions, once you pee or poop, you just add a scoop of sawdust. This dry stuff not only produces the ideal ratio of nitrogen to carbon of 1:30, but it reduces the flies and nearly eliminates the smell. It takes about 6 months for one side to fill up, and then you sit on the other side. The rich fertilizer is then used on their vegetable and herb gardens. This last area, food, is the one area where they want to become more self-sufficient. Currently they buy almost all their food (which is all vegetarian and muy, pero muy sabrosa). And while buying locally does greatly help the community, they would like to have more time and expertise to grow almost all their own food.

As we set off to tour the town of Chugchilán, we passed their pig and her 4 little 4-day old piglets. You might wonder why a vegetarian place has a pig. It was given to them as a gift by someone to whom they had given an interest-free loan for starting his own business in town. And now it's a great way to get rid of scrap food!

In addition to the great things Black Sheep Inn is doing at its own facilities, it is also helping develop the local community. Chugchián only has about 100 people, but it has a school of about 300, meaning kids walk from up to 2 hours away! With help from this school, Andy and Michelle (the owners) have opened and supplied resources for a local library. BSQ has donated some computers, as have other guests and organizations, and little by little they are getting more books. The people know how to read, but there is nothing of quality TO read, so they don't. Also, it's an entirely agricultural pueblo, so technology skills are limited.

After the library, we saw the recycling/waste disposal project Andy and Michelle started about 2 years ago. They set up 3 sets of garbage cans around town, to be divided into inorganic and organic. Granted, no one in the town actually separates the garbage yet, but they are making slow progress with the workers who clean the streets, so there is hope, however small. Once they separate the garbage themselves, they take it to the building they recently finished (thanks to funding from an ecoclub.com grant), take out the cardboard, metal, and two specific types of plastic that can be driven to Latacunga, 2 hours away, in exchange for money. A full truckload gets about $10, but it's enough to make the townpeople slowly realize that there is value in separating their garbage. What they can't get money for in town they either put on the compost pile and then the garden, or they put it in the landfill that is currently about 6 feet deep. Anyway, it's the cleanest garbage place you'll ever see, and a great model for other towns, almost all of which in Latin America have a serious garbage problem.

In the evening we took a 1 hour ridge-walk hike with spectacular views, then had a bonfire at night and crashed in super comfy and multi-blanketed beds!

Speedbumps and Spiggots

A couple updates that I have forgotten, but that are pretty monumental, I must say:

First, aguacates (avocados) have arrived! Granted, you could have bought them at Supermaxi long ago, but Monica promised to buy them from the guy who sells his fruit on the speedbump outside our subdivision and he just got some in last week. Hooray for aguacates y guacamole!

Secondly, if you're reading Katrina's blog, this won't be news to you, but if not, it's life-changning news for me! I was just asked by my host mom 3 nights ago if I had figured out how to get hot water yet. I have no idea how she knew I hadn't (that's right, 35 days of cold showers), but she taught me the trick--you have to have the pressure so insanely low that it takes forEVER to get the soap suds off, but you do get scalding hot water! Even from the one single tap that says 'cold' (and no, not fria, strangely enough!)! So for two mornings now I have adjusted the pressure-to-heat ratio until it was just right, and I think I come out about even on water usage. Fast, high pressure cold showers versus longer, low pressure hot showers. I'm not sure which is more environmentally friendly, but I'll take the latter anyday!